Atheist Encounters a Unitarian Universalist Church
Score one for organized religion.
During my weekly AHA! (Alliance of Happy Atheists) club meeting, the President suggested a field trip to the local Unitarian Universalist Church. It was close, it sounded friendly (universally so), and they advertised free coffee.
We were college students. Naturally, we went.
Expectations? Perhaps a vague sense of middle-aged hippies limbering up for spiritual yoga. Beyond that, I was clueless. And a little bit intrigued. As an atheist, all religions appear cultish, and this was no exception. Its website advertises the Church as tolerant of all beliefs…but did that include disbeliefs?
We’d find out soon enough.
“open to people with a wide diversity of beliefs. This church affirms, promotes, and celebrates the full participation of all persons in all activities, without regard to race, color, ethnicity, gender, physical challenge, affectional or sexual orientation, marital status, age, or national origin.” Unitarian Universalist Church, SLO
The Experience
The church itself was nondescript. It blent into downtown SLO despite its ketchup & mustard colour palette, of which I approved.
Score one for a church that sees in more than black and white.
Six college atheists huddled in a loose circle and scuttled through the lobby. We were greeted by a Reverand Rod Richards, who’d graciously approved AHA!’s last-minute field trip.
We held small talk. When the age gap threatened to become apparent, we ushered ourselves into a room where the regulars congregated and sipped caffeinated beverages.
I, ever the awkward atheist, crept around the room until cornered.
My first conversation was decidedly un-cultish. A sweet older woman congratulated me for my interest in the church (news of AHA!’s arrival had spread quicker than prayers on a Sunday.) I confessed I was an atheist and new to Unitarian Universalism (translation: I’d come for the coffee).
She smiled knowingly.
“My husband and I are atheists,” she said, which was the last thing I’d expected to hear from a frequent church-goer. She called to her husband, an elderly and sharp-witted man, who was more than happy to sate my curiosity.
Yes, they were atheists. Yes, they were spiritual.
“Many of us are here for the community,” the woman said. She confirmed that many in the Church shared different beliefs.
Shared. Huh.
I looked around the room. Church members were mingling and smiling and chatting. Some looked as awkward as I, but they also seemed comfortable. Grounded, despite their varied beliefs.
Hello, cool America. Goodbye, intolerance of old.
My fellow club members spread throughout the small space, interviewing delighted members of the congregation, most of whom could have passed for our grandparents. The youngest of them was about twenty years older than our eldest.
Amazingly, conversion was never a topic.
Come time to leave, AHA! bid the Church members a heartfelt farewell. It was an eye-opening experience; a glimpse at the future of social atheism.
Was this what atheism fights against? Organized religion, in all its forms? I don’t know. But the people were friendly, the coffee was warm, and the church was red and yellow.
Not bad, for a Church.
Would you visit? Let me know in the comments below!
